The smartwatch market in India witnessed an impressive 50% year-on-year growth in 2023, according to Counterpoint Research, signaling a significant tech evolution where smartwatches are becoming increasingly popular as both fashionable accessories and health monitoring devices.

Driving Forces Behind India’s Smartwatch Market Boom in 2023

Remarkably, this growth has been driven primarily by local Indian brands such as Fire-Boltt, which holds a 30% market share, Noise with 26%, and boAt with 17%. These brands have successfully captured the market by offering smartwatches at affordable prices, often below the ₹2,000 threshold, a significant increase from 26% in 2022. Their success is attributed to a combination of aggressive marketing, local manufacturing, and catering to a cost-conscious consumer base, thus making smartwatches more accessible to a broader audience.

Despite the overall market growth, international premium brands like Samsung saw a 3% year-on-year decline, although they did experience a 17% growth in the fourth quarter, with the Galaxy Watch 4 emerging as their most popular model due to promotional pricing. It also became the top-selling WearOS smartwatch in India. Conversely, Apple witnessed a substantial 57% decline in shipments, primarily due to its products’ longer replacement cycles, higher price points, and compatibility exclusively with iPhones. However, Apple still managed to maintain its dominance in the high-end market segment, priced above ₹20,000 and anticipates a gradual increase in Apple Watch shipments in 2024 following a rise in iPhone sales in India during 2023.

The surge in smartwatch popularity isn’t solely about affordability. An increasing emphasis on health consciousness, wellness, and the appeal of tech as a fashion statement are significant factors driving this trend. Consumers are keen on gadgets that enable them to monitor their health metrics, stay physically active, and express their personal style, and smartwatches fulfill these needs.

India’s rapid adoption of smartphones and its young, tech-enthusiastic demographic make it an ideal landscape for the expansion of wearable technology. Unlike the saturated market in China, where Indian brands have been cautious to enter, India presents a promising opportunity for growth and innovation in the wearable tech space.

Looking ahead, market analysts anticipate further consolidation, with the top five brands already commanding 81% of total shipments. The future is likely to bring a wider range of feature-rich, yet affordable smartwatches that cater to various consumer needs, from fitness tracking to fashion. Additionally, the emphasis on local manufacturing is expected to stimulate job creation and support the development of a self-reliant technology ecosystem in India.

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In 2023, the global gaming market witnessed significant growth, reaching 1,173.79 billion yuan ($166B) with a 6.00% increase from the previous year. Within this expansive industry, the mobile gaming sector stood out, amassing 606.27 billion yuan ($85.76B), half of which was dominated by Chinese companies. Their dominance in the global market is attributed to the creation of high-quality games, ongoing innovation, and aggressive global expansion strategies.

Chinese Dominance and Diversification in the Growing Global Mobile Gaming Market

Despite this success, Chinese developers encountered a setback, as their self-developed games’ overseas revenue dipped by 5.65% to $16.366B. The major markets for Chinese mobile games, including the United States, Japan, and South Korea, still contributed to more than half of China’s overseas revenue, underscoring the international appeal of these games.

This widespread acceptance is the result of continuous improvement in game quality, the introduction of innovative features, and effective market and brand expansion strategies. Although strategy games continue to lead Chinese mobile game exports, the casual gaming sector is witnessing rapid growth, with its overseas market share jumping from 0.6% to 5.1% in just three years.

The landscape is further reinforced by the presence of 52 Chinese firms among the top 100 global revenue generators in the industry, with Tencent Games standing out with revenue surpassing 100 billion yuan ($14.13B).

However, challenges persist, notably a declining revenue share from self-developed Chinese products, fierce international competition, rising user acquisition costs, and the struggle for effective localization due to a shortage of local talent.

To overcome challenges in expanding their products overseas, over 60% of surveyed Chinese companies are emphasizing long-term product operations, and about two-thirds are using brand or IP partnerships to attract international users. These strategies, combined with a focus on regional preferences and the adoption of advanced technologies such as AI and improved game engines, are essential for Chinese developers looking to maintain global dominance and succeed in the global market.

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Foldable smartphones have emerged as a transformative trend in the ever-evolving smartphone industry, combining innovative design and functionality. Initially a novel concept, they have quickly gained popularity due to advancements in technology, enhanced hinges, and engineering. These devices are now favored by tech-savvy consumers worldwide, reshaping the smartphone landscape with their unique features and garnering widespread attention and admiration in the era of innovation.

Honor is leading in Q3 with a 50% foldable market share

While numerous companies have ventured into the foldable smartphone arena, Samsung has consistently led the way globally. However, Chinese brands like Honor and Huawei have rapidly gained favor among consumers, particularly with their recent foldable smartphone launches in the Chinese market.

According to the latest data from Counterpoint, the third quarter in China saw the Honor Magic V2 emerge as the top-selling “large foldable” smartphone, closely followed by Huawei’s Mate X3 and Mate X5. With over 50% large foldable smartphone market share Honor is showing its strong presence in the Chinese market.

Honor’s Magic V2 has achieved impressive sales figures, totaling 8 million units. While their latest foldable phone Magic Vs2 stands out with its sleek design, dual screens with eye protection, and an impressively lightweight build, making it the world’s lightest foldable flagship by shedding 2 grams compared to its predecessor, the Honor Magic V2.

The global foldable smartphone market experienced a 10% year-over-year growth in Q2 2023, driven primarily by the Chinese market, which accounted for a 58.6% share. Chinese manufacturers are expanding their offerings globally, and Samsung’s recent launches further stimulate growth, leading to the era of mass-market foldable phones starting in 2024.

Zhao Ming, the CEO of Honor, foresees a shifting pattern of market dominance between Honor and its competitor, Huawei, in the Chinese foldable phone market, with alternating leadership becoming more common.

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In the recently released market data for the second quarter of 2023 by Counterpoint Research, MediaTek maintained its dominant position in the global smartphone Application Processor (AP) market share. This marked the 12th consecutive quarter of MediaTek’s leadership in this sector.

Analyzing the Q2 2023 Smartphone AP Processor Shares of Leading Manufacturers

During Q2 2023, MediaTek commanded the largest share with 30%, closely followed by Qualcomm at 29%. Apple secured a substantial portion of the market with a 19% share, while UNISOC held a notable 15% share. In contrast, Samsung accounted for 7% of the market, reflecting the competitive landscape and the ongoing dynamics within the smartphone AP market.

MediaTek’s continued success can be attributed to their strategic moves in the market. They experienced a slight increase in shipments in Q2 2023, primarily driven by their strong presence in the mid-low-end market. MediaTek introduced new models, such as the Dimensity 6000 and Dimensity 7000 series, along with the high-end Dimensity 9200 Plus, consolidating their position across various price segments.

Qualcomm also saw growth in shipments during the same quarter, thanks to the adoption of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor by major players like Samsung and Chinese manufacturers. The release of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5 series played a significant role in boosting Qualcomm’s market presence. Furthermore, Qualcomm’s updates to its Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, and Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 series contributed to their market share recovery.

Samsung, too, experienced an increase in AP shipments in Q2 2023, driven by the introduction of the Exynos 1330 and 1380 processors. These chips found success in both the low-end and mid-high-end smartphone markets. However, Apple faced a decline in sales during this period, largely due to seasonal factors.

UNISOC, after a sluggish performance in the first quarter, witnessed an uptick in shipments during Q2 2023. As entry-level 5G smartphones continue to gain popularity in regions like Europe, UNISOC is poised to capture a larger market share in the latter half of 2023.

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Popular wearables maker, Noise, is continuing to lead the smartwatch market in India. A new report found that the company holds over a quarter of the market share and saw sizeable growth in the second quarter of this year.

Noise saw a massive 90% YoY growth in Q2 2023

According to an IDC report, Noise has managed to regain the throne in India’s smartwatch market. The company had a sizeable market share of 27.6 percent, marking a huge 90 percent growth year on year. It saw a sizeable rise thanks to the robust growth of its smart wearable segment. Some of the notable products that helped include the Noise Colorfit Icon 2, Colorfit Icon Buzz, and Colorfit Pulse Go Buzz.

These models alone accounted for 39 percent of its total shipments. The report states that Noise saw a rise of 53.3 percent year on year in the first half of this year. During this time, it shipped 57.8 million units thanks to new launches, attractive designs, and innovative features. All of these contributed to an impressive 128.9 percent year on year growth within this category.

As per IDC, Noise is a great example of successful collaboration between Indian brands and ODMs (Original Design Manufacturers). Furthermore, the company was a notable player that contributed to the “Made in India” initiative. The company will likely see a successful second half this year as well as we get close to the holiday season.

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China’s VR/AR market has seen dramatic shifts in Q2 2023, as revealed by the latest data from Runto Technology (RUNTO). In this period, the market witnessed sales of 178,000 units, marking a year-on-year (YoY) decline of 51.2%. But this broad figure hides a fascinating story of divergence between the two technologies.

AR Devices See a Slight Decrease in Average Pricing

Virtual Reality (VR) online sales endured a significant downfall, with a 60.9% YoY decrease. The factors behind this steep drop remain speculative but could be linked to shifting consumer preferences or technological advancements in other areas.

Contrasting VR’s decline, Augmented Reality (AR) devices have seen a meteoric rise, with a staggering 258% YoY growth in sales. Additionally, AR devices’ market share has increased by 38% within the overall online VR/AR sector. This growth trend is accompanied by a mild reduction in the average price of AR devices, now at 2,828 yuan.

Three brands, namely Raybird Innovation, XREAL, and Rokid, have emerged as the dominant players in China’s AR online market. They hold an extraordinary 90.2% combined market share, as per the CR3 index, for the second quarter. Raybird Innovation leads with a 39.1% share, followed by XREAL at 32.2% and Rokid at 18.9%.

The divide between VR and AR could signify a broader shift in consumer interest and technology development. While VR’s immersive experience might be losing appeal, AR’s ability to blend virtual elements with the real world is gaining traction. This shift might also be influenced by a wider range of applications and the utility that AR offers. Apple’s recently announced AR headset, Vision Pro, has already contributed significantly to boosting the AR industry, despite its unreleased status.

RUNTO’s forecast for the remainder of 2023 seems to underline this trend, projecting robust growth in China’s consumer-grade AR devices market. The expected annual total sales across all channels could range between 200,000 and 250,000 units, translating to an incredible YoY growth of 100% to 150%.

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Samsung has been the leading smartphone manufacturer for years now and the company continues to dominate the global markets as the South Korean giant remained at the top spot for the first quarter of this year.

As per the latest report from International Data Corporation (IDC), Samsung remained the leading smartphone manufacturer globally with a 23.4 percent market share and shipments of 73.6 million units in Q1 2022.

The shipments of 23.6 million units for Samsung indicate a decline of 1.2 percent year-on-year as the company had shipped 74.5 million units in the first quarter of 2021.

Apple has grabbed the second position with an 18 percent market share and total shipments of 56.6 million iPhones from January to March this year. Unlike Samsung, Apple grew its shipments by 2.2 percent in the first quarter of this year.

Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo come in at third, fourth, and fifth positions respectively. Xiaomi captured a 12.7 percent market with 39.9 million shipments while OPPO shipped 27.4 million units for an 8.7 percent market share. Vivo had a market share of 8.1 percent as the company shipped 25.3 million units.

Similar to Samsung, all three Chinese smartphone makers show a decline in shipments when compared year-on-year with Vivo seeing a massive decline of 27.7 percent, followed by OPPO 26.8 percent drop, and Xiaomi with a 17.8 percent decline.

According to Nabila Popal of IDC, the companies are struggling in the market because of the supply chain issues for core components of making smartphones. She also hints at the reduced consumer demand because of the current economic condition and global inflation.

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The electric vehicle market has been rising globally and while many auto manufacturers are focusing on EV cars, some Asian markets, like India, are more focused on the two-wheelers or e-scooters.

Now, a new report from Business Standard, citing VAHAN data coming from India’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, claims that eight companies that represent 95 percent of the market, have registered 32,680 electric scooters for the month of May 2022.

The numbers represent a decline of 24 percent month-to-month as in the month of April, the companies had registered 43,098 e-scooters. As per the analysts, the drop is because of the sudden rise earlier which indicated an early pent-up desire for such vehicles, which was manifested in large bookings.

The major causes for the drop are believed to be concerns about the safety of such vehicles as there have been reports about electric scooters catching fire. Other reasons include chip shortages and supply difficulties, as well as low demand seasonality.

Ather, one of the early entrants in this sector, witnessed a 26 percent increase in EV registrations in May. A report from Rushlane claims that the company sold 3,787 units in May 2022, 8 units more were sold compared to last month.

Ola Electric, which was the leading brand last month, has lost the pole position to Ather. It reported 8,704 registrations, representing a 31 percent drop compared to the previous month. On the other hand, Okinawa had 8,894 EV registrations, which turns out to be a 19 percent decrease from April. Bajaj Auto and TVS do not post their numbers individually.

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Samsung, the world’s smartphone manufacturer and a dominating player in the Indian smartphone market, is planning to gradually exit the high volume but low-value feature phone business in India.

A new report from Economic Times, citing people aware of the development, claims that the last batch of Samsung feature phones for the Indian market is set to be manufactured by its partner Dixon by the end of this year.

Samsung is among the two major MNCs contributing to the Indian government’s Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. The report adds that the company is mandated to get sops only on the production of handsets worth over ₹15,000 factor price.

The South Korean giant will exit the low-value feature phone business in India to instead focus on the mid-range, upper or premium mid-range, and premium smartphones. Basically, it is aiming at devices costing ₹15,000 (~$193) or more.

Feature phone shipments in the Indian market declined by 39 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year. This resulted from multiple factors, including supply chain issues and low demand due to high retail inflation.

Samsung was the leading brand in the feature phone segment in the Indian market but has now fallen to the third spot with a 12 percent market share. Itel is now leading the market with a 21 percent market share, and Lava grabs the second position with 20 percent share.

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Honor became an independent brand from Huawei a couple of years ago and the company has been launching new devices at regular intervals in an attempt to recapture the lost market share in China as well as globally.

It appears to have achieved its goal in the Chinese market. As per the new report coming from Canalys, Honor has emerged as the leading smartphone brand in terms of shipments in the Chinese market in the first quarter of this year.

The company shipped 15 million units of smartphones in Q1 2022 and managed to have a massive growth rate of 205 percent. OPPO, which also includes OnePlus, shipped 13.9 million units to grab the second spot in the market.

Apple closely comes in at the third position with 13.8 million shipments, making it into the top three smartphone brands list for the Chinese market. Vivo and Xiaomi grab the fourth and fifth positions with 12.2 million and 10.6 million shipments respectively.

Overall, the Chinese market witnessed a massive year-on-year decline of 18 percent and a month-to-month decline of 13 percent in the first quarter of this year as the market saw shipments of only 75.6 million units.

Along with launching new popular models like the Honor 60 and X30 series, the company has been focusing on regaining the market share and for that. Along with the online, Honor is also trying to expand its footprint in the offline space to reach more customers.

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HMD Global, the company behind the Nokia-branded smartphones has been launching new entry-level and budget smartphones as well as feature phones in the market. But it’s been a few years since we got a premium device from the brand.

If you have been waiting for a flagship smartphone from Nokia, then you are in for a disappointment. HMD Global has confirmed that the company has no plans of launching a flagship or premium smartphone anytime soon.

The company has confirmed that the brand will be focusing on the core business for new, which includes entry-level and mid-range smartphones along with feature phones. It wants to offer durable devices with multi-day battery life and an affordable price tag.

This new strategy of Nokia appears to be working as the company achieved a full year of operational profitability. The company has been profitable since Q3 2020 and Q4 2021 was the most profitable quarter in its history.

Nokia 9 PureView was the last flagship smartphone launched by the company in 2019 and since then, there has been no new premium device from the brand. There were rumors about a follow-up PureView smartphone with a focus on the camera department but the device has been delayed several times and now there’s no update regarding the phone.

It appears that HMD Global has made a good choice here given that not all the brands can perform well in the premium smartphones market, especially when the market is dominated by a select few companies. Given that the major brands like BlackBerry, HTC, and to some extent Sony have bowed out of the smartphone market, sticking with what works best for Nokia seems to be a smart choice.

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Apple, which has had a good year with the launch of the iPhone 13 series models in the market, has now emerged as the leading smartphone brand in the Chinese market for the fourth quarter of 2021.

According to the report from market research firm Counterpoint Research, Apple had a record-high market share in China in the fourth quarter of 2021, covering around 23 percent of the total smartphone market.

This indicates a year-on-year growth of 32 percent for the US-based tech giant. The report says that Apple’s pricing strategy helped to perform better in China, along with the exit of Huawei from the premium segment, making room for Apple to capture its market share.

Following Apple is China’s own Vivo with a 19 percent market share. The third spot has been captured by OPPO, having a 17 percent share. Both Vivo and OPPO have witnessed a decline of 6 percent year-on-year.

Honor has rapidly recaptured its position in the market and is now the fourth-largest smartphone brand in China, having a 15 percent share. The company also witnessed an impressive 50 percent YoY growth.

Xiaomi, Huawei, and Realme stand at fifth, sixth, and seventh positions respectively with 13 percent, 7 percent, and 3 percent market share. Other brands make up for the remaining 4 percent market share.

While brands like Apple, Honor, and Realme saw growth in Q4 2021, the overall Chinese smartphone market witnessed a 9 percent decline. However, for the entire year of 2021, Vivo emerged as the leading brand with a 22 percent market share, followed by OPPO, Apple, Xiaomi, Honor, Huawei, and Realme.

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The demand for wearable devices has been on the rise and the trend continued for the third quarter of this year as well. International Data Corporation (IDC) has now released a report for the global wearable device market for Q3 2021.

As per the report, the market witnessed a growth of 9.9 percent year-on-year, increasing shipments to 138.4 million units. Unsurprisingly, the shipments for earphones, including the TWS earbuds, increased 26.5 percent.

For the first time, the shipments of smartwatches surpassed the shipments of fitness trackers. With this, smartwatches have now become the second-biggest category in wearable devices, accounting for a 4.3 percent increase.

The reason behind the increased shipments of smartwatches is being said to the users’ demand for more powerful features and functions and thus they are gradually shifting towards smartwatches. Also, there’s isn’t a huge price difference between a smartwatch and a fitness tracker, which is also a factor for the change.

Coming to the companies, Apple is dominating the market with a 28.8 percent market share and shipments of 39.8 million units. However, the company’s shipments for the Apple Watch dropped by 35.5 percent, but it managed to maintain its lead with AirPods.

Samsung grabbed the second spot with a 9.2 percent market share and 12.7 million shipments. Xiaomi also recorded the same numbers, sitting along with Samsung for the second rank in the third quarter.

Huawei and India-based Imagine Marketing grabbed the fourth and fifth position with 7.9 percent and 7.2 percent market share, respectively. Huawei shipped around 10.9 million units while Imagine Marketing, which sells products under the boAt brand, managed to ship around 10 million units in Q3 2021.

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Amazfit, the company known for making wearable devices, has become the world’s third-largest smartwatch maker in the third quarter of this year, overtaking Chinese giant Huawei, reports Counterpoint Research’s Global Smartwatch Model Tracker.

The report claims that Amazfit has managed to ship around 9.9 million units of its smartwatches in Q3 2021, which is representing an increase of 89 percent over the same period in the previous year. It now has a 5.8% global smartwatch market share.

Another highlight of the brand in the report is its increasing presence in the overseas market. The company’s sales from the overseas market accounted for 61.8 percent of its global shipments. In Germany, its sales increased 150 percent year-on-year while in Turkey, the brand’s shipments increased by 324 percent YoY.

It has seen a good response in the European market from regions like Italy, Spain, and Germany. A few products from the brand performed quite well in the market, including the GTR 2e, GTS 2e, and T-Rex Pro.

Further, the company also benefited from partnerships with Spartan, ESOK Rally in Turkey, All-Russian Zavidovu SUP Challenge, Israeli Beach Volleyball Championship, and Cruce Teques in Mexico.

Apple has retained its top position in the smartwatch market in Q3 with a 21.8% share but its market share fell by 10 percent YoY. South Korean tech giant Samsung grabs the second spot with record-high shipments of Galaxy Watch4 and Galaxy Watch4 Classic, helping the brand increase its market share from 9.9% to 14.4%.

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Just a few days back, ASUS launched its latest gaming smartphones — ROG Phone 5s and ROG Phone 5s Pro in its home market China. The phones, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Plus 5G SoC, are targeted at the high-end market.

The newly launched smartphones are the successor to the ASUS ROG Phone 5 series, which was launched in March this year. As per the reports, ASUS accounted for about 90 percent market share in Taiwan’s gaming smartphone segment in the first half of this year.

With the updated ROG Phone 5s series powered by the latest chipset available in the market, it appears that ASUS is trying to ensure that it offers top-of-the-line specifications and improves its lead in the market.

The company has confirmed that the ROG Phone 5 series, as well as the newly announced ROG Phone 5s series, will be released in Mainland China. Expanding to more regions will allow the Taiwan-based company to sell more units of its gaming smartphones.

As per the company’s estimates, it managed to sell around 500,000 units of its smartphones in the year 2020, and this year, the company is aiming to sell 800,000 to 1 million units and it seems quite achievable for the brand at this time.

ASUS only has a presence in the high-end premium smartphone segment and is no longer selling budget or mid-range smartphones. Although there’s a Zenfone lineup of flagship smartphones, the popular offering from the brand remains the ROG Phone gaming lineup.

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Continuing its bull run, Xiaomi has now become the leading smartphone in Thailand. As per the report from Canalys, China-based Xiaomi captured 21 percent of the market share in the second quarter of this year, surpassing Samsung for the first time.

OPPO managed to take the second position with a 19 percent market share while Samsung slipped to the third spot. Vivo and Realme are ranked fourth and fifth, completing the list of the top five smartphone brands in Thailand.

Xiaomi managed to take the pole position in Thailand as the company’s shipments in the second quarter increased by 200 percent year-on-year. Interestingly, Xiaomi was the only brand to have positive shipment growth as OPPO, Samsung, Vivo, and Realme registered a decline of 2%, 15%, 31%, and 28% respectively.

The smartphone shipments for Xiaomi are also growing tremendously in Latin America, Africa, and Western Europe, witnessing 300%, 150%, and 50% respectively. Now, the company is facing tough competition from OPPO and Vivo as they are set to start an extensive campaign to increase their market share.

Globally, Xiaomi has become the second-largest smartphone brand, overtaking the technology giant Apple with a massive 83 percent jump in shipments. It also emerged as a leading brand in Europe with 12.7 million units shipped in Q2 2021, registering a 14 percent year-on-year growth. Not just that, for the month of June 2021, the company dethroned Samsung to become the world’s leading smartphone brand.

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At its recent launch event, the China-based Honor, which became an independent brand splitting from Huawei earlier this year, launched its new devices, including the Honor Magic 3 series flagship smartphones and Honor Tab V7 Pro.

Just after the launch event, in an interview, George Zhao, CEO of Honor, revealed that the offline sales for the company accounted for more than 70 percent of its overall sale. This is quite an interesting development given that Honor mostly positions its devices in the mid-range segment and it was the leading company for online sales in China.

Given that majority of the company’s sales are now through offline stores, George Zhao says that Honor will now be speeding up the work of expanding the brand’s footprints in the offline market.

During its peak, Honor-branded smartphones accounted for about 16.7 percent of the market share in China. However, it fell to about 3 percent in the first quarter of 2021, just as the company split from Huawei.

However, the company has now returned to the top three list of smartphone manufacturers in its home country China, with a market share of 14.6 percent. Not just China, Honor has also resumed business operations in about 50 countries around the world and is now focusing on recovering the lost market share.

Zhao acknowledges that the overseas market share of Honor has dropped to almost zero but the company is now hoping for a V-shaped recovery. The company has launched promising new devices and with more products in the pipeline, there’s a possibility that Honor could bring back the days of glory that it once witnessed, before the United States imposed sanctions on Huawei. We’ll just have to wait and watch.

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One of the highlights of July was the report that Xiaomi is now the second-biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world in terms of market share. The Chinese manufacturer overtook Apple following the release of a report by Canalys Research. Now, another analyst firm, IDC, has also released its report and it confirms Xiaomi ranking albeit with different figures.

ID’s report lists the top five smartphone companies in the world for the second quarter of 2021 and ranks them according to shipment volumes, market share, and year-over-year growth.

Sitting at the top of the list is Samsung with a shipment volume of 59 million units, 4 million more than it shipped in the same quarter in 2020. However, while it has shipped more units, its market share has dropped from 19.5% to 18.8%.

Coming in second place is Xiaomi with 53.1 million units shipped and a 16.9% market share. That is a huge jump from the 28.5 million units shipped Y-O-Y and from its market share of 10.3%. IDC states the company has recorded a growth of 86.6%.

Apple is the third-largest smartphone company with 44.2 million units and a 14.1% market share. The Cupertino-based company saw its shipment and market share rise Y-O-Y from 37.6 million and 13.6% respectively.

OPPO and its sister company Vivo take the fourth and fifth spots with 32.8 and 31.6 million units shipped respectively. The former has a market share of 10.5% and recorded a growth of 33.7%. Vivo’s market share is 10.1% and it recorded a growth of 33.7%.

IDC adds that the stats above represents the current parent company for all brands owned and operated as a subsidiary, so Xiaomi’s stats include shipments made by Redmi and POCO.

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Apple is one of the leading companies when it comes to wearable devices and that is applicable to the European market as well. According to the data revealed by IDC, Apple continues to lead the wearable market in Europe in the first quarter of this year, selling over 7.8 million devices.

As for the market share, the Cupertino-based tech giant is controlling 35.6 percent of the wearable market in Europe. The second spot is reserved by Samsung with a 16.1 percent market share, selling over 3.5 million devices.

Chinese companies Xiaomi, Huawei, and Huami make up the top five wearable brands in the continent. The report also adds that Xiaomi has managed to sell 2.5 million devices in the first quarter of this year.

The IDC report also reveals that the earwear products account for the biggest share in 2020, with over 50.1 million units sold last year in this category. Now, as for the smartwatches, over 23.4 million units were sold last year, with the popular Apple Watches leading the category.

Apple Watches accounted for 31.2 percent market share, reaching 6.9 million units, representing a growth of 51.2 Year-on-Year. While WatchOS has surpassed market expectations, the price cut of Watch Series 3 and Watch SE led to stronger sales.

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Chinese firms like Huawei and ZTE have been banned from participating in the 5G infrastructure by the United States and it has also pushed its allied countries to do the same, barring the companies in several countries.

But, it seems that the ban in certain countries hasn’t affected the company’s market share much. According to the data released by Omdia, Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE are the market leaders globally for the 5G market in the first quarter of this year, i.e. Q1 2021.

Huawei has maintained its lead in the first quarter of this year while Ericsson ranks second, followed by Nokia in the third position. ZTE is the fourth company in terms of market share with a significant increase from 7.8 percent in the last year to 12.3 percent this year.

However, when it comes to 5G NR shipments in the first quarter of 2021, Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE ranked first and second, followed by Ericsson and Nokia in the third and fourth positions.

When it comes to 5G NR revenue, Huawei continues leading the market, followed by Ericsson in second place. ZTE stood third with a significant rise from 5.8 percent in the same period last year to 16.4 percent this year. Nokia comes in at the fourth position.

The report adds that in terms of 5G construction, the investment speed and intensity of the Asia-Pacific region are very large, followed by North America and EMEA (collectively referred to as Europe, the Middle East, and Africa).

As of the first quarter of 2021, China has built a total of 819,000 5G base stations, accounting for more than 70% of 5G base stations deployed globally, covering all cities above the prefecture-level in the country.

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While the smartphone market recovers post the coronavirus pandemic, Huawei Technologies still struggles due to the US sanctions. Despite the market seeing a year on year growth of 20 percent, the company only held a 4 percent market share in Q1 2021.

According to a Counterpoint Research report, the global smartphone market saw a 20 percent year on year growth in the first quarter of this year, while recording a 10 percent quarter on quarter decline. The total shipments during this period reached 354.94 million units. During Q1, Samsung lead the market with a 22 percent market share, followed by Apple (17 percent), Xiaomi (14 percent), Oppo (11 percent), Vivo (10 percent), and finally Huawei (4 percent).

The report also added that the Indian smartphone market saw a decline in the second quarter, although, Xiaomi saw an 8 percent year on year growth in the region, reaching 26 percent market share. Similarly, Chinese smartphone makers also saw a significant growth in Europe, while Apple saw a decline. On the other hand, Huawei saw further decline in the region.

For those unaware, the Chinese tech giant’s smartphone operations has been struggling as US sanctions cut off its primary chip supplier TSMC. This had essentially crippled its smartphone business as it had to rely on its existing inventory for its new launches. Furthermore, the company even had to sell of its budget handset unit, Honor as well, while it expanded its business scope into other fields like the automobile industry and cloud computing related services.

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Last month, South Korea-based LG confirmed that it is exiting the smartphone business and is shutting down its mobile phone division. The firm is now planning to focus on other areas such as electric vehicle components, connected devices, smart homes, robotics, artificial intelligence, and business-to-business solutions, as well as platforms and services.

In a bid to fill the gap of LG smartphones in the company’s home market, leading smartphone brands like Samsung and Apple have launched a trade-in program for LG phone users in the country, reports ZDNet.

As a part of the new trade-in program, the companies are willing to pay the trade-in value of the phone as well as an additional 150,000 won, which is around $135, for LG smartphone users who exchange their phones for a Samsung Galaxy series smart phones or Apple iPhone lineup.

Apple will be running its trade-in program up to 25th September and the users of 4G and 5G LG smartphones can exchange them for an iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Mini. But the program is only available in retail stores run by telecom companies are not through the Apple Store or Apple resellers.

On the other hand, Samsung will be running its program until the end of June, and users of LG smartphones can exchange their devices for the Galaxy S21 series or the Galaxy Note 20 series, along with the Galaxy Z Flip 5G and Galaxy Z Fold 2.

Currently, Samsung holds about 65 percent of the smartphone market share in South Korea while Apple holds around 20 percent. LG, which has now exited the market, controlled about 13 percent of the market.

Even though LG is out of the mobile phone business, the company has confirmed that it will push up to three versions of Android updates for all its premium smartphones. The three updates will start counting from when the phone was released.

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As per the report, Xiaomi accounts for 35 percent of the total smartphone market in Spain, followed by Samsung with a market share of 34 percent — just behind Xiaomi. Apple comes in third by capturing 14 percent of the market and the rest of the companies make for the remaining 18 percent.

The market share of Xiaomi in Spain in March 2020 was 24 percent and now it stands at 35 percent in March 2021, registering impressive growth. Even Samsung registered growth from 25 percent in March 2020 to 34 percent in March this year.

The Counterpoint report adds that the sales of Xiaomi increased 3 percent Month-on-Month and were mainly driven by the strong performance of its budget-focused Redmi 9A and Redmi K40 series smartphones.

Xiaomi, similar to other China-based smartphone brands, has been strategically expanding its operations to overseas markets. Companies like Xiaomi, Vivo, and OPPO are trying to fill the gap left by Huawei and Honor.

It’s noteworthy that companies like Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo didn’t face issues due to the shortage of chips in the market compared to other smaller manufacturers. This helped them push ahead with new devices in the market.

Xiaomi has been aggressively gaining market share and has now become the third-largest smartphone brand globally after Samsung and Apple. Xiaomi, which now holds 14 percent of the global market share, grew its smartphone shipments by 62 percent in the first quarter of this year to reach shipments of 49 million units globally.

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With the COVID-19 pandemic getting in control in China, smartphone makers have been able to manage supply chain and production. This has helped the companies boost up smartphone sales in the country.

According to the data published by DigiTimes Research, the smartphone shipments in China increased by 9 percent in the first quarter of this year, totaling 94.6 million units.

OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi have emerged as the leading smartphone brands in China as these companies had a stockpile of chipsets and components because of which there were no issues with the production of their devices amid the global shortage of components.

Huawei, which had been ruling the Chinese smartphone market continues to see a decline in its market share. Honor, which spun off into an independent company earlier this year, doesn’t have significant numbers in sales to become a mainstream brand in China.

The top five smartphone brands in China — OPPO, Vivo, Xiaomi, Huawei, and Apple accounted for 91.8 percent market share in the first quarter. If Honor is included in the mix, which comes in at a sixth place, then the total market share amounts to 98 percent.

While the first quarter of 2021 saw an increase in shipments for smartphone brands in China, the report is forecasting a decline of 19.3 percent for the second quarter, mainly due to the shortage of required components.

As for the global markets, a report from Canalys reveals that smartphone sales increased by 27 percent in Q1 2021, reaching 347 million units. The top five smartphone companies during the first quarter are Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo respectively.

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India is one of the largest smartphone markets in the world and the market witnessed a surge of 26 percent in the first quarter of this year with shipments of 38.8 million units of smartphones in Q1 2021.

A report from Strategy Analytics claims that the surge in demand is a result of eased lockdown restrictions in the first quarter and increased demand for new 4G smartphones.

Xiaomi remained the leading smartphone brand in the country with a 26.5 percent market share. The company is facing tough competition from Samsung which has captured an 18.6 percent market share in India.

Last year, in Q1 2020, Xiaomi had a massive 32 percent market share while Samsung had only 16 percent during the same time. Now, Samsung is trying to surpass Xiaomi to become the leading smartphone brand in India.

The new devices coming from the South Korean giant, including the Galaxy M-series, A-series, and F-series are in demand given that they offer a smartphone from a famous and premium brand at affordable prices.

Vivo managed to grab the third position in the Indian smartphone market in Q1 2021 with a market share of 18 percent, an increase of two percent compared to the same period last year. It is just behind Samsung and could pose a threat to the South Korean giant’s position in the Indian market. It is also spending heavily in India to boost its brand and in line with that, Vivo has become a title sponsor of IPL.

Another Chinese company OPPO got the fourth position in the Indian market with a 12 percent market share. The company is gearing up to boost its position in India and is reportedly set to launch its own online store next month.

Realme, which started off as a subsidiary of OPPO, is the fifth most-selling smartphone brand in India with an 11 percent market share. The company’s market share slipped from 15 percent a year ago, mainly because of the lagging offline presence.

The Indian smartphone market remains highly volatile and it will be interesting to be seen how the market share of these brands changes in the second quarter as India again imposes lockdown-like restrictions amid surging COVID-19 cases in the country.

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LG Electronics had just announced that it will be exiting the smartphone business. The company had various reasons to quit the industry, and it seems that its rival Samsung and Oppo will be fighting to grab its market share.

According to a MoneyUDN report, the South Korean tech giant is shutting its loss making unit as it can’t compete with the likes of Apple or Samsung in the high end segments while Chinese brands dominate the mid to low end segments. Thus, it is expected to lose its market share once it exits the industry to its fellow South Korean rival and China’s Oppo. This also marks the departure of a major smartphone brand from the industry.

Furthermore, the global smartphone market can also be divided into two platforms, namely, Android and iOS. Within both platforms, Samsung and Apple are the leaders, meanwhile, even Huawei after being affected by the US trade restrictions and having its market share decline sharply is ahead of LG. Chinese vendors like Oppo and Xiaomi also offer better value to the consumers, and have hence, surpassed the South Korean firm as well.

LG’s key markets included regions like Europe, South Korea, and certain Southeast Asian markets. These are now expected to be replaced with Samsung in the high end market and by Chinese brand Oppo for the mid to low end segments. LG was once one of the top three smartphone brands, although, it has been seeing losses since the second quarter of 2015. It had been rumored to shut its mobile division for a while so the announcement is not a surprise.

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Samsung Electronics, the South Korean giant, has managed to reclaim the top position in global smartphone sales in the month of February. As per the report from Strategy Analytics, the company has beat Apple, which had managed to get the top spot in the Q4 2020, thanks to the sales of the iPhone 12 series.

The report reveals that Samsung managed to ship 24 million units of its smartphones in February 2021, accounting for 23.1 percent of the market share. On the other hand, Apple managed to sell 23 million units, making for a 22.2 percent market share.

Xiaomi was the third-largest smartphone vendor last month with a market share of 11.5 percent, followed by Vivo and OPPO with 10.6 percent and 8.5 percent global market share respectively. All three of these are Chinese brands with almost none to the limited presence in the United States.

Samsung had a market share of 15.6 percent in January while Apple had a market share of 25.4 percent. When comparing the data Year-on-Year (YoY), the smartphone shipments of Samsung were 26 percent more than last year and 12 percent more than the pre-pandemic levels in February 2019.

The South Korean giant introduced its flagship Galaxy S-series smartphones in the form of the Galaxy S21 lineup in January this year, deviating from its usual timeframe of mid-February. This has helped the company increase its market share. Another major impact is the decreasing share of Huawei, which is struggling in this category because of several sanctions imposed by the United States.

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MediaTek surprisingly dethroned Qualcomm as the world’s leading smartphone chipset vendor for the first time in the third quarter of 2020. Now, a new report claims that the Taiwan-based chipset maker led the market for the whole year.

As per the recent report from London-based Omdia, the shipments of MediaTek grew 48 percent year-on-year in 2020, reaching 352 million units. The company managed to capture about 27 percent of the global markets.

On the other hand, Qualcomm saw an 18 percent year-on-year drop in chip shipments last year and shipped 319 million units of its Snapdragon-series processors in 2020. With that, MediaTek took the pole position while Qualcomm got the second spot with 25 percent of the global market share.

MediaTek seems to have benefited the most from the sanctions imposed by the United States of Huawei, which barred the Chinese giant from using Qualcomm’s chipsets in its devices. Given that Huawei was one of the leading smartphone brands globally, losing the business also hit Qualcomm and other vendors significantly.

However, Xiaomi is the brand that used the most MediaTek chips on its devices last year. The Chinese company shipped 63.7 million phones powered by processors from the Taiwanese company in the year 2020, a growth of 223.3 percent YoY.

Apart from that, the company has been winning the market when it comes to entry-level or low-price and mid-range smartphones. Most of the budget and mid-range phones come powered by the Taiwanese company’s processors and the company is also testing waters for the high-end chips.

MediaTek has added support for 5G connectivity on its offerings with the Dimensity series of processors. The company isn’t stopping at smartphone chips and is also one of the leading vendors globally for Smart TV chips.

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Chinese tech giant Huawei, which continues to struggle because of the restrictions imposed by the United States, still managed to lead the global market when it comes to telecommunication equipment.

Market research firm Dell’Oro Group recently published a report about global telecom infrastructure market for the fourth quarter of 2020. While Huawei led the market, the overall market witnessed a 7 percent year-on-year increase.

The telecommunication equipment market includes products for broadband access, microwave and optical transmission, mobile core network and wireless access network, SP routers, and carrier-grade switches.

The report reveals the the top seven supplier companies in this segment, which include Huawei, Nokia, Ericsson, ZTE, Cisco, Ciena, and Samsung. All these companies accounted for about 80 percent to 85 percent of the overall market. It also reveals that Huawei’s market share has increased by 2-3 percent points through the year 2020.

On the other hand, Ericsson and Nokia have increased their RNA market share outside of China. Further, the report adds that revenue for these companies continue to be affected because of the status of deployment of 5G communication technology, especially in the highly concentrated market.

In the year 2020, Huawei had 31 percent market share in terms of revenue, followed by Nokia and Ericsson, both of them having 15 percent share. ZTE, Cisco, and Ciena ranked fourth, fifth, and sixth with 10 percent, 6 percent, and 3 percent market share respectively. South Korean giant Samsung came seventh with 2 percent share.

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During a recent briefing, Taiwan-based chipset maker MediaTek’s chairman Cai Lixing announced that the company is planning to invest around $3 billion in Research & Development in various fields.

The amount of spend on Research & Development (R&D) allotted for the year 2021 sets a new record for the company. Last year, i.e. in 2020, the company spent about $2.7 billion in research and development related activities.

This new announcement from the company comes on the hills of record revenue figures. MediaTek’s revenue for the previous year exceeded the $10 billion mark as the company reported $10.9 billion. It also noted that the company achieved double-digit growth for each of its product lines.

Further, Cai Lixing also predicts that the 5G smartphone shipments will exceed 500 million units this year, which comes out to be around 2.5 times more than the numbers in 2020. He also adds that among those, around 60 percent will be from the Mainland China region.

Last year, the company’s 5G market share was 40 percent and it is trying everything it can to continue its growth. At a time when the smartphone market witnessed a decline, MediaTek managed to increase its market share.

It became the leading chipset company in China with a 31.7 percent market share. It was followed by Huawei HiSilicon, accounting for a 27.2 percent market while Qualcomm managed to cover a 25.4 percent market share.

While MediaTek’s market share nearly doubled, Huawei HiSilicon and Qualcomm both saw a decline in their market share. The reason behind MediaTek’s growth is said to be the increased demand for budget smartphones.

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Last year, Apple confirmed that it will be transitioning from Intel chipsets to its own Apple Silicon chips based on ARM. In line with that, the company launched a new M1 chipset and three devices powered by the same — MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini.

Now, months after the devices were available for purchase, a report from market research firm TrendForce reveals that M1-powered Mac devices currently account for about 0.8 percent of the total laptop sales in 2020.

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However, the firm forecasts that this year, i.e. 2021, the market share of Apple M1-powered devices will be around 7 percent. This is because the Cupertino-based giant is expected to launch new devices, including 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros.

The report notes that the overall notebook shipments in the year 2020 surpassed the 200 million mark with a 22.5 percent year-on-year increase — the highest percentage of increase recorded so far. This is being attributed to the stay-at-home economy because of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.

Apple is also expected to launch a new chipset for Mac devices this year which will be more powerful compared to the current M1 chip. The upcoming chipset, which could be named M1X or M2, will reportedly power high-end Mac devices from Apple and if it manages to meet the expectations as M1, the company’s market share could see significant growth.

UP NEXT: Apple launches new Limited Edition AirPods Pro in China for 1,999 yuan ($310)

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While the smartphone industry has completely eclipsed the once dominant feature phone market, these devices still exist and are still used widely across developing or under developed nations. Now, a new report has revealed that one of the world’s largest smartphone brand, Samsung, is also the third largest feature phone maker as well.

As per a Counterpoint Research report, the South Korean tech giant shipped over 7.4 million feature phones during the third quarter of 2020. The company shared the third spot with Tecno, with both brands having a 10 percent market share. India was one of the key markets for Samsung, as it held an 18 percent share in the region. iTel leads the feature phone market at the moment, with a 24 percent global market share followed by HMD Global, with a 14 percent market share.

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Notably, India’s Lava is the world’s fifth largest feature phone brand in the market. The global feature phone market saw 74 million units being shipped with the Middle East and Africa region being the largest market for such devices. Despite being such a large industry, the market is one a steady decline year on year, with shipments falling by 17 percent between July and September 2020, compared to the same period back in 2019. Similarly, feature phone shipments in North America declined by 75 percent year on year and by 50 percent quarter on quarter.

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Honor, the newly independent smartphone company after being sold-off by Huawei, will hold around just 2 percent market share globally in the year 2021, reveals a new report coming from research firm TrendForce.

On the other hand, the offloading of the Honor brand is set to significantly hit Huawei. The Chinese giant’s market share next year is expected to be around just 4 percent, a massive decline from 14 percent this year.

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Huawei is also under several sanctions by the United States that restrict the company from procuring necessary components, impacting the company’s ability to manufacture and launch new smartphones in the market. The sanctions are the reason Huawei decided to sell its Honor brand.

Xiaomi, another Chinese brand, is set to gain market share next year. The report adds that the market share of Xiaomi is expected to grow from 12 percent to 14 percent. As we reported, the company is aiming to ship 240 million smartphones next year in an ambitious attempt to overtake Apple and Huawei.

OPPO is also expected to get a 14 percent market share next year, an increase from 12 percent while Vivo could see its market share grow from 9 percent to 11 percent. While companies like Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo have tightened their supply chain, Honor is likely to have its supply chain issues sorted by the second half of 2021.

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Samsung Electronics has maintained its top spot in the smartphone market of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region in the the third quarter of this year, as per a new report from earlier today (1st December 2020).

Samsung accounted for 45 percent of the Gulf smartphone market in the period between July and September in terms of smartphones units. This is up from 40 percent from the previous quarter of this year. The news arrives from IDC (International Data Corp), a known analytics based research firm and was reported by YonhapNewsAgency. According to Akash Balachandran, a senior research analyst at IDC, “With its large portfolio of models in the entry-level and mid-range price bands, Samsung not only maintained its leading position but also captured share lost by Huawei.”

Apple arrived second in the region and had a market share of 15 percent in terms of units, which was down from 18 percent for the second quarter of this year. The drop was likely due to the delay of its iPhone 12 series launch. Chinese smartphone vendors also followed close behind the Cupertino based giant with Huawei accounting for 13 percent of the market share, and Xiaomi holding 12 percent of the Gulf smartphone market.

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However, things change in terms of value, with Apple leading with a 46.3 percent market share, followed by Samsung with a 30.8 percent market share in Q3 2020. Notably, the overall GCC smartphone market also declined by 0.9 percent quarter on quarter, down to 4.16 million units. In terms of value, the market fell by 11.6 percent quarter on quarter to 1.16 billion US Dollars.

Out of the entire Gulf region, Saudi Arabia accounted for 52.6 percent of all smartphone shipments in the GCC region in the third quarter of 2020. The UAE (United Arab Emirates) arrived second with 24.1 percent of the total market. Ramazan Yavuz, a senior research manager at IDC added that, “Brands like Apple and Samsung will also post a strong performance in the upcoming quarters with newly released models in their portfolios. Chinese vendors, focused on driving penetration in the region, will continue their marketing investments, all of which will translate into a well-performing market in the short to mid-term.”

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With Huawei in dire straits, rival Chinese smartphone makers have been eyeing to grab the void in the market share. These companies, including Xiaomi, are also building up momentum in their orders for the coming quarter.

According to a DigiTimes report, sources from Taiwan’s PCB supply chain have revealed that Chinese smartphone manufacturers are more aggressively stocking up and placing orders than compared to the first half of 2020. Furthermore, the sources believe that this trend will last till the first quarter of 2021. At the moment, Xiaomi has been particularly pulling in the highest volume of PCB shipments among other brands like Vivo and Oppo.

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These three brands are the major rivals of Huawei in their home country, China. Previously, we had reported on Xiaomi reporting a major growth of nearly 35 percent in revenue in the third quarter of this year, with a bump in smartphone shipments as well. This also includes in overseas market and is expecting the positive growth to continue for a bit as it is building up its inventory.

Additionally, it is estimated that Xiaomi handset orders will exceed 100 million units during the second half of 2020 to first quarter of 2021. Similarly, Oppo and Vivo will also reach around 90 million and 70 million handset shipments respectively during the same period. On the other hand, Huawei is expected to have its market share drop to a third of its current standing in 2021. Although, these are still projections based on current situation and it is still too early to make any solid statements at the moment. So stay tuned for more updates regarding the matter.

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Huawei, the known consumer electronics maker, is expected to see a sharp decline in its global smartphone market share in 2021. A new report has revealed that the company might have its market share fall to just 4 percent next year.

For those unaware, the Chinese tech giant is one of the most popular smartphone manufacturers in the world. However due to recent obstacles, the company is expected to only account for 14 percent of the global market share this year, which will drop to less than a third of that by 2021, as per a BusinessStandard report. Researchers at TrendForce stated earlier this week that a sustained campaign of sanctions against the company is the primary reason for such a sizeable decline.

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Furthermore, Huawei had been facing troubles with the US, with the worst actions arriving a couple of months prior when the US Commerce Department reinforced restrictions against the company, which had already lost its primary chip supplier TSMC and disrupt its supply chain even further. The reinforced regulations also stripped away its key software, and technological edge. Notably, Huawei recently had to sell its budget smartphone business, Honor, after supply constraints and component shortages were affected its subbrand as well.

The TrendForce projection also points at other Chinese smartphone manufacturers like Xiaomi, Oppo, and others that would take advantage of Huawei’s current predicament to fill in the market gap. Additionally, Honor and the other Chinese OEMs would also likely raise their production targets and compete for the vacant space more aggressively next year. While this does paint a bleak year for Huawei, it remains to be seen how the company navigates its way through the rough situation at hand.

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Samsung Electronics has witnessed an all time high share in the global TV market. The South Korean tech giant leads in terms of revenue during the third quarter of this year, as per a new report.

According to TheKoreaHerald, a market report from the known research based organization, Omdia, has revealed that the company held a sizeable 33.1 percent market share on terms of revenue in the total market. This is a a record high firgure from Samsung. As per the report, the company noted a revenue from TV sales in the third quarter of 2020, reaching 9.3 billion US Dollars, marking an impressive growth of 22 percent year on year.

Furthermore, Samsung sold 14.85 million TV units during the month of July to September, which is also up by 39 percent. In terms of number of units sold, the company now accounts for 23.6 percent of total across the globe. The global TV market had brought in a total 28.1 billion US Dollars in the third quarter, which is up by 11.8 percent year on year.

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Similarly, Global TV sales have also grown by 14.7 percent year on year, reaching 62.87 million units in sales. Sources from within the industry have stated that healthy sales of QLED and other large TVs have contributed to the company’s increased market share, despite the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic. In just a year, Samsung doubled its QLED TV sales from 1.16 million to 2.33 million units.

Another South Korean brand, LG Electronics arrived second in the category during the same period. It saw a 16.6 percent market share in the third quarter, which was followed by Sony with 10.1 percent. Samsung and LG’s combined sales alone account for 49.7 percent of the total global market.

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With Huawei facing troubles with the US and its reinforced restrictions, other Chinese smartphone manufacturers and rivals are making aggressive pushes to seize the market share of the Chinese tech giant.

After facing ramped up sanctions from the US, Huawei has been facing increasing pressure from its rivals as well. As per an industry insider close to the matter, companies like Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo are seeking to capitalize on the gap in the market left by Huawei. Notably, the company also sold its budget handset business, Honor, earlier this month. Honor spinning of from its parent company also secured its supply chain from the scrutiny faced by Huawei from the US.

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During this moment, Huawei’s rivals can sense an opportunity in the mid to high end smartphone market. This also arrives after an exec had revealed that Huawei would not be able to produce its flagship processors that power its high end flagships, as per a Reuters report. According to Derek Wang, a Realme official, “What we can see now, whether from Xiaomi, Oppo or Vivo, is that they’re raising their forecasts for next year. They believe the sanctions against Huawei will more or less hurt it in the international market, and they may want to take a share of the market from Huawei.”

In other words, the aggressive moves from other Chinese OEM rivals will not only be restricted to their home country in China, and will also extend to overseas markets as well. For those unaware, the US Commerce Department reinforced its restrictions against Huawei, which disrupted its supply chain. Interestingly, with the market recovering, orders have also ramped up with Xiaomi already placing 100 million handset orders between Q4 2020 to Q1 2021. Similarly, Oppo and Vivo are also projected to raise orders to 90 million and 70 million, respectively. On the other hand, Huawei orders fell by 55 percent to just 42 percent during the same period. So, the impacts of the sanctions are clearly visible.

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Samsung, which is the world’s largest smartphone manufacturers, has also recaptured the leading position in the Indian market after over two years. Now, Samsung reportedly has an all-time high market share in its home country South Korea.

The report from Strategy Analytics indicates that Samsung has reached an all-time high market share of 72.3 percent in South Korea in the third quarter of this year. This is the first time the company has managed to cross the 70 percent mark.

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This year, the company expanded its smartphone lineup by launching new upgrades of the existing lineup as well as new foldable devices in the market. It seems that the premium offerings from the brand, including Galaxy Note 20 series, the Galaxy Z Flip 5G, and the Galaxy Z Fold2 5G have played a significant role to reach this milestone.

However, it remains to be seen how the South Korean giant performs in its home market in the fourth quarter of this year (i.e. Q4 2020) given that the newly launched Apple iPhone 12 series has been received quite well and is currently the hot-selling product.

There are reports that in order to combat the issue of Apple grabbing more market share with the iPhone 12 models, Samsung is planning to launch its next-generation Galaxy S21 series earlier than usual, somewhere around mid-January.

It is also being reported that the upcoming flagship offerings from the company will have a bit lower pricing and the company is also reportedly planning to bundle more accessories. So, it will be quite interesting to see where this goes.

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Huawei is having the worst nightmare of its life. It’s facing a heavy deterrent from the US for selling its 5G equipment elsewhere outside of China. The company, which recently got its semiconductor chips blocked, might just have its market share swallowed by Samsung. The latter is reportedly eyeing an early release of the new S series in 2021 to seize Huawei’s market share.

According to Reuters’ sources, Samsung will launch the next Galaxy S21 series Flagship a month earlier in 2021. With this, it might be planning to bank on the US ban on Huawei and grab its market share. And in turn, thwart Apple from gaining any more grounds. In fact, the report says that Samsung is preparing to launch the new Galaxy S21 early as late-January 2021.

This way it is likely to jump the launch by more than a month compared to 2020 when the Galaxy S20 series debuted in 2019. Plus, this corroborates with the earlier report that has speculated January 14 as the announcement date.

Besides, a source for Reuters says that Huawei’s stockpiles will run out by early next year. This is understandable considering the company has not launched a lot of devices outside of China in 2020. And it’s recent Huawei Mate 40 series is already facing shortage in some regions in its home country.

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Can Samsung succeed by jumping the gun?

To take advantage of this, and stiffen the competition to Apple, Samsung is reportedly on course for the launch next year. Samsung has had a roller coaster of a year in 2020. To recall, it temporarily lost the lead to Huawei back in Q2 2020. But quickly grabbed it back in Q3 with a 2.9% YoY growth amongst an intense pandemic situation.

Similarly, the company recorded less than a 59% YoY shipment decline in the US compared to Apple. That is the latter reportedly sold 15% iPhone 11 there which is the world’s best selling smartphone in H1 2020. But it has risen back to fame in the US and Europe.

Thus, the company will be keenly looking to attack early rather than playing the defense this time considering 2021 will be a revival year. That said, industry officials from South Korea hope that the US President-elect Joe Biden will ease some restrictions. This could happen albeit the country looks to show a sturdy attitude against China.

This uncertainty, adds fuel to the fire as it already faces tough competition from Xiaomi and Oppo. All this could have made Samsung to take an early jump with Galaxy S21 series.

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